Oh whippytoes! All moss comes like that! lol oh that made my day! You just have to soak it first then it revives right back up!

Sorry just saw your other message....from my understanding, you never repotted the plant. Unless you completely took the clear pot off. The plant was never repotted and the roots were never disturbed.

I am sorry you are experiencing bud blast but it wouldn't be do to "repotting" because you didn't. Orchids are constantly lifted out from there decor pots to be watered and cared for but this doesn't bother them.

More likely reasons in my experience would be the environment change, too much or too little water, watering with cold water or ice cubes, sudden temperature changes like when moving the plant it if it was cold outside to and from the car or things like drafts, AC/heating systems or even bugs. I have even heard some orchids genetics cause them to be more likely to experience bud blast although idk how common this one is.

You did get an orchid for $1. But frankly, I would be far happier in discovering I have an overall healthy plant like this thread taught you. I have had a lot of Phals that I bought in bud, they bloomed beautifully just then to be dead a month or two later because I was only focusing on the buds and not the plants health. And that is far more heartbreaking then an initial bud blast for unknown causes. In the long run, I would think that you have learned a lot about caring for orchids and that you will have a healthier plant as a result that will bloom bigger and better in the future.

Immediate satisfaction rarely pays off in the end, at least in my experience, and when I first started and left my plants alone just to flower and then had a house full of dying Phals without the knowledge or resources to care for them, it was devastating. I have learned the hard way that the plant is what matters, not a single set of buds.

I guess this is something everyone has to come to on their own however. But just to clarify, we all said not to repot after seeing through the clear pot and you did not do a repot unless you cut off the clear pot, took ALL the media off of the roots, cut away dead roots and then put the plant into a different pot with all fresh media. Simply removing the clear pot from the decor/cache pot wouldn't of caused bud blast.